The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Spiraea plant botanically known as Spiraea japonica and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Odessa’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Boskoop, The Netherlands during the summer of 2005. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Spiraea cultivars that have rich flower colors and a more compact growth habit useful for small hedges or mass plantings.
The new Spiraea cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is ‘Little Princess’, not patented, characterized by its light pink-colored flowers, medium green colored foliage, compact-globular growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is ‘Bullata’, not patented, characterized by its medium red-purple colored flowers, dark green colored foliage, compact-globular growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during the summer of 2009 in a controlled environment in Boskoop, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by softwood cuttings since the summer of 2009 in Boskoop, The Netherlands has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.